This week, we’re taking an in depth look at Crackdown, exclusively on the Xbox 360. This open-world, crime fighting game looks and plays like no other game out there: Imagine a graphic novel meets Grand Theft Auto… but with super-powers!) So, we’ve got 2 interviews with the developers and a giveaway contest to boot. Watch until the end to find out how to enter to win your copy!

Fight! Our streak of A-list interviews continues this week as veteran KOXM guest and Mortal Kombat Kreative Director Ed Boon stops by to reflect on Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, his riskiest game yet. Find out which characters didn’t make the cut, what might be next for the series, and more. Plus: Capcom offers you another chance to win a copy of Age of Booty for Xbox Live Arcade.

Old friend Frank O’Connor from Bungie joins us on the show this week to answer a number of questions about the imminent Halo 3 beta. Find out what surprises are in store for you on May 16, why the beta is only lasting three weeks, and how Bungie deals with rude players within their own ranks (hint: it involves vandalizing each other’s cars…).

Say it with us: Sesquicentennial! It’s our 150th show, so Todd Howard joins us to talk about Operation: Anchorage for Fallout 3 — and what the future DLC packs will entail. Along the way he drops a small bombshell that will be of interest to every Achievement whore out there — you will want to hear this! Plus, the mystery of Galaxy News Radio’s frequency is finally solved in Dan’s Useless Trivia.

In one of our biggest shows in recent memory (and longest ever, in fact), we’ve got two awesome guests this week. Sitting in on the entire show is Microsoft’s Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb, who fills in for the vacationing Dan.

Meanwhile, our feature segment is a 30-minute interview with Harmonix president, co-founder, and CEO Alex Rigopulos talking all about the much-anticipated new music game Rock Band. Alex reveals a number of interesting new tidbits about the game, including what you’ll get in the mega bungle box, what online modes will be available, what the final “Freebird”-equivalent song is for the drum career mode of the game, and a lot more!

It’s our 50th show, and we’re celebrating by breaking new ground: we’ve put together videogame podcasting’s first-ever full-blown Game of the Year awards show! We got all of the biggest names in the Xbox world together under one roof for the event to accept their awards, including CliffyB, Todd Howard, Kudo Tsunoda, Major Nelson, and soooo many more.

In fact — like any real awards show — the ceremony went on for so long that we had to split the event into two parts. Part two will go live next Friday. But for now, tune in for such awards as Sports Game of the Year, the Franchise Suicide Award, the Controller-Throwing Moment of the Year, Xbox Live Arcade Game of the Year, and too many more to list!

Also, a huge thanks to our sponsor, Academy of Art University. If you’ve ever wanted to pursue a career in the videogame industry, they’re a great place to start.

Look behind you, a three-headed monkey! Ryan fulfills a fanboy dream this week by getting to interview Dominic Armato, the voice of The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition’s hero/wannabe pirate Guybrush Threepwood, as they talk up the upcoming Xbox Live Arcade remake. Dom talks about what it’s like being a voice actor, if he’s worshiped on the LucasArts campus, how his dream role came to be, if he’s ever met Monkey Island creator Ron Gilbert, and a whole lot more. It’s an interview more fun than a barrel full of…well, you know. Plus: how the digital TV switchover probably isn’t affecting you, why Activision boss Bobby Kotick is back in the news, and the Sega-spolosion on Xbox Live Arcade.

We’re back with part two of our Game of the Year awards. On the second half of the broadcast, we have Frank O’Connor and Brian Jarrard from Bungie, Mortal Kombat creator Ed Boon revealing the first details about the next-gen MK, more CliffyB, more Todd Howard, more Major Nelson, and MANY more, including an appearance by Scarface himself, Tony Montana. Give it a listen, and be sure to stay tuned for the hilarious outtakes at the end!

Expert game industry analyst Michael Pachter of Wedbush Morgan Securities stops by this week to chat about the imminent impact of Grand Theft Auto IV, Microsoft’s strategies for 2008, and how the heck one gets to be an analyst. All the math makes our brains hurt!

No Dan today, but Ryan tries to make it up to you by getting Bethesda exec producer Todd Howard on the phone to talk about the myriad Fallout-related things in the news. Hear him speak honestly on the technological issues that pestered the last 2 DLC launches, the genesis of the most up to date DLC (Broken Steel), how the partnership with Obsidian for Fallout: New Vegas became, Interplay’s Fallout MMORPG, as well as a lot more. And also, he remains for a video game of “Stick it to the Todd Howard.” Did you stump him? Learn!